Hen party mum punched and threw bottle in nightclub attack

Andrew Phelan

The 29-year-old, who was visiting Dublin for a hen party, was described in court as a “dangerous person” who had previously been electronically tagged for an assault in the UK.Innocent victim: Sarah NoonanInnocent victim: Jennifer Hynes

A WOMAN who punched and threw a bottle at two women on a nightclub dancefloor in an unprovoked attack has been jailed for five months.

Mother-of-one Lynette Myers’ attack left one of the friends with a fractured nose and the other bleeding and shocked.

The 29-year-old, who was visiting Dublin for a hen party, was described in court as a “dangerous person” who had previously been electronically tagged for an assault in the UK.

Myers, from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, pleaded not guilty to two counts of assault causing harm, but judge Ann Watkin said she “lied through her teeth”.

Dublin District Court was told that the victims, Jennifer Hynes and Sarah Noonan, went to the D2 nightclub at the Harcourt Hotel after they finished work on August 10.

They were returning from the bar when Myers barged past and knocked their drinks over. The defendant then swiped at the victims after Ms Hynes said: “What the hell?”

They walked off, but soon after Ms Noonan was hit on the nose with a bottle that bounced and hit Ms Hynes’ head.

Myers then approached the women and started punching Ms Hynes. The bouncers dragged her away, but she escaped, ran back and punched her twice more on the jaw.

“I felt a crack on the top of my head”, Ms Hynes said of the bottle hitting her. “A lot of blood started running out of the top of my head. The defendant came towards me, I put my hands over my head to protect myself and she punched me a few times in the side of the head”.

Myers denied throwing the bottle and striking either woman. She claimed she offered to replace the drinks after she knocked them over by accident, but that Hynes and Noonan became angry and followed her.

But judge Watkin told the defendant, who has a conviction for assault causing actual bodily harm, she did not believe “one word out of her mouth”.

Myers’ solicitor said she suffered from an anxiety disorder and panic attacks and was willing to pay the victims €1,000.

But the judge said the assaults were “absolutely unprovoked” and showed “absolutely unwarranted aggression”.

“She (Myers) was brazen and blatant enough to keep hitting in the presence of the security guard,” she added. “This makes her a dangerous person.”

Judge Watkin also remarked that Myers was lucky not to have inflicted more serious injuries with the bottle.

She directed the €1,000 lodged by the defendant for her bail to be paid in compensation to the victims.